Our last day in Bali . . . . maybe . . . . depends on how our next standby flights go. Sometimes standby travel and hindsight is frustrating (I tend to be the type of person that second guesses ALL of my decisions . . . . something that I try to work on and is a constant battle for me). I had a bit of a freak out/melt down yesterday. We left Amed and came into Denpasar yesterday. Our flight leaves later today. I was feeling like we were wasting time and I was starting to worry that we wouldn’t have enough time together in Thailand. At one point we had talked about just buying a flight (flying in Asia is fairly cheap), but by the time we looked into it, the flight on Sunday was ridiculously over what we are paying for standby (Monday flights are cheap though). I was frustrated that we would not be able to see everything and do everything I had planned and envisioned. I was mad that we came into the city when Amed was so calm and relaxing, and I was annoyed that I didn’t really know what was coming up next. Poor B-Rod! However, if he doesn’t know by now that girls sometimes get “the crazies,” then I guess he will just never learn and he’ll just have to deal with them as they come! The great thing about B-Rod though, which is a compliment to me, is how chill he is. He constantly reminds me that we don’t need to do or see everything. Sometimes just BEing here is great and good enough.
After my meltdown, we wandered around our area of the city. We’re staying close to the airport, so we’re not in a very touristy area, but we can get to one by walking. We passed by street food, markets and local areas of people just doing their thing. We came across a beach which was being enjoyed mainly by locals. We started to head to the tourist area and realized quite quickly that this is not where we wanted to be, so we headed back, and had some food where the locals eat. I had a pedicure by our place, and B-Rod and I chatted with the people who don’t often see the tourists and can’t communicate very well in English, but are so kind and willing to put up with our ignorance and lack of knowledge of the Indonesian and Balinese language. It was a perfect lesson for me. Everything always works out, and the things I see and do don’t always have to be what I’ve planned. Sometimes they may even be a whole heck of a lot better.
The majority of our time in Amed was spent diving, sitting on our amazing deck and a little bit of wandering around. Amed is a super chillaxing place and definitely our kind of scene. The diving there is amazing – we didn’t even have to be on a boat, we just walked out directly from shore – and the dive shop we ended up at was incredible. Owned by a French Canadian and a Dane, they were super nice, passionate about what they do and easy to be around. We loved the area and dive shop so much, we have already discussed going back at some point to do further dive courses!
Time spent on our deck
Enjoying the changing time of day
Vegging during the day
Eating the biggest mango ever (sadly it wasn’t the tastiest I’ve ever had)
Around Amed
Guess what I was looking at and what B-Rod was looking at
I love how the spiritual is a part of everyday life and the offerings that were made on a several time a day basis in several areas. There was a shrine on our deck and the owner would be around a few times a day making offerings and saying prayers.
You could also see the offerings anywhere you looked
Diving
Ahmed Jepun Divers . . . . . if anyone is every in the area, we would highly recommend this place!
This is a Pygmy Sea Horse.
Denpasar
The local beach . . . . nice to be on sand and walk into the ocean
Street food in the local areas . . . . life is pretty good!
This is how we’ll be spending most of our morning and early afternoon. Not out exploring and seeing new sites (yet), but there are definitely worse things we could be doing.
Will we make it to Bangkok? Check back at a later point to find out!!
That's a huge mango! (Thatswhatshesaid!)
I love that you learn the perfect lesson for you that "things tend to work out", yet you never learn it and so you have to learn it again and again! Good thing B-Rod is there to keep teaching you!
Looking forward to the next leg of your journey. Keep posting as I love the updates and photos!!
P.S. how did you know that that was a pygmy seahorse???
Despite all of this time, B-Rod has failed to learn that sometimes girls get "the crazies" and the wisest thing to do is to not point out that they are being super crazy. Does that make us even?
That's what a dive master is for! Sometimes even when they point things out, I still don't see anything 🙂